Punjab housing dept waives Rs 40 crore dues of private realtor after GMADA fails to give basic amenities at site

Punjab Housing Department has waived off nearly Rs 40 crore, including penal interest, of a private realtor, after failing to provide the basic amenities at the 1.13-acre site in Mohali.

The waiver has come at a time when the fund-starved Punjab government has been eyeing the prime properties of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to raise a loan against them to fund its populist schemes.

Officials in the Housing Department said allotted nine years ago to Remigate Builders for a food court in Sector 62, Mohali, the GMADA failed to provide encumbrance free site, despite repeated representations by the allottee. Instead, GMADA issued a show-cause notice to the builder for non-payment of pending dues.

After the matter was taken up in the 34th authority meeting of GMADA, headed by the Chief Secretary KAP Sinha, a decision was taken to waive the penal interest and reschedule the allotment date from 2016 to 2022.

Sources said the builder was allotted the site in an auction in September 2015 at a reserve price of Rs 32.50 crore. But the allottee paid 20 percent of the total amount and the first instalment (Rs 9.87 crore). The department admitted that deficiencies in the estate office resulted in restraining the allottee from taking up the commercial project.

Based on the report of the Estate Office, the authority decided to fix the date of allotment for February 2022.  The authority also observed that starting from 2016, the Estate Officers and the Chief Administrators have been violating provisions of the Punjab Regional Town Planning and Development Act, resulting in a delay in the department getting its dues.